10 Horrorcore Tracks For Halloween

Horrorcore is a subgenre of hip hop music based on horror-themed lyrical content and imagery. Check out some of hip-hop's scariest tunes.

Violence isn't an odd topic in hip-hop music by any stretch of the imagination; there probably hasn't been a mainstream rap album to hit stores this year in which an emcee didn't at least threaten to kill someone. Gun violence and homicide are an epidemic in hip-hop. Cannibalism, torture, and crucification, on the other hand, are harder topics to come by.

The following list is dedicated to those rappers who were willing to take their fetish for violence and murder one step further, often for satire and occasionally just for dumb fun. On these pages, you'll be introduced to serial killers, rapists, abortionists, schizophrenics, and a few killer clowns too. This one isn't for the easily disturbed.

Check out the gallery and let us know what else deserved a spot.

Note: for the sake of variety, I gave every artist one song; Brotha Lynch, Eminem & The Geto Boys would have dominated this list had I not.

It only makes sense to kick things off with the originator. Slinging brutal, controversial, and often wickedly satirical lyrics since the mid-90s, Brotha Lynch Hung has become an icon in the underground hip-hop community. While, today, he's probably best known for his work as The Coathanga Strangla on Tech N9ne's Strange Music label, Lynch has been killing and cannibalizing far before he was charting for it. On "Return Of Tha Baby Killa," he performs abortions with his pistol. Enjoy.

Horrifying Lyrics:

POP! It's baby killa seasonPut 6 in the clip, put it up that clitAnd watch them baby's brainsDrip out that fetus

The biggest and (arguably) best of the horrorcore genre, Eminem's music somehow emerged from the underground and sold a hundred million albums. The Marshall Mathers LP, which went diamond by the way, is among rap music's finest hours. "Kim" was the first song the rapper recorded for the album, shortly after finishing work on The Slim Shady LP in late 1998. Legend has it thatEminem wrote "Kim" after having watched a romance film alone at a theater after him and his wife (Kim) separated.Once the couple reconciled, Eminem recalls, "I asked her to tell me what she thought of it. I remember my dumb ass saying, 'I know this is a fucked-up song, but it shows how much I care about you. To even think about you this much. To even put you on a song like this'." Even if Kim didn't love it, the fans couldn't get enough.

Horrifying Lyrics:

You and your husband have a fight, one of you tries to grab a knifeAnd during the struggle he accidentally gets his Adam's apple sliced (No)And while this is going on, his son just woke up and he walks inShe panics and he gets his throat cut (Oh my God)So now they both dead and you slash your own throatSo now it's double homicide and suicide with no note

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Esham - "Nine Dead Bodies"

Deriving his style from The Geto Boys, Detroit's Esham hyperbolizes deprivation in Detroit to cartoonish levels. While, in 1994, he would ultimately leave his horrorcore roots behind on Casket Closed, he's still best remembered for his early work. "Nine Dead Bodies" comes from Judgement Day, a 1992 release that's rock-samples would ultimately influence the likes of Kid Rock & Eminem.

Horrifying Lyrics:

I got a craving for some red rumSo I went to the store and saw the clerk and got me someOne person found dead at the liquor storeA mass murderer, five murders or moreNow I'm working on my sixth oneI kill bitches with my bare handsMotherfuck a gun

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Geto Boys - "Assassins"

While "Mind Playing Tricks On Me" may be the Geto Boys' claim to fame, "Assassins" was the one that started it all. Performed entirely by Prince Johnny C (who left the group pretty much immediately after the song's release), the track is largely credited as the first horrorcore song of all time. Scarface and company would take the concept and run with it on the group's future albums.

Horrifying Lyrics:

I drove her to a spot that was quiet and darkYo yo, turned out the lights and found a place to parkNow I knew the girl was ready, she started gettin sweatyBut all was in my head was 'kill the bitch like Freddy'I dug between the chair, and whipped out the macheteShe screamed, I sliced her up until her guts were like spaghettiA maniac, I stabbed the girl in her titsAnd to stop her nerves from jumpin I just cut her to bits

The lead single from Gravediggaz's debut album 6 Feet Deep, "Diary Of A Madman" was impressive enough to make its way onto the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at 89) at a time where graphic content was still largely frowned upon in the mainstream. The track's success is largely attributed to the music video (featured below), which was among the first projects taken on by a young Hype Williams.

Horrifying Lyrics:

The cause of death is unknown to the copsCause when I kill them, I’m not leaving one element to autopseFirst I'll assassinate em, and them I'll cremate themAnd take all of his fucking ashes and evaporate 'emOr creep through the graveyard and hunt down your tombstoneDig up your skeleton and stomp all your fucking bonesYou try to haunt me nigga, I ain't tryna hear itBuck buck buck, I'll give your ass a holy spirit

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Necro - "Dead Body Disposal"

For just over three minutes, Necro takes listeners on a twisted tour of the their options when trying to rid themselves of a cadaver. Some options are more obvious (throwing it in the river), others may be slightly less digestible (dismemberment, for one).

Horrifying Lyrics:

A wood chipper turns a corpse into chopped meatSpread it all over ya grass then water it down properlyWithin a few days the cadaver's fertilizerYour advisor's taught you ways of covering up murders wiser

While "Am I A Psycho?" may be a more recent release, Tech N9ne has been associated with the horrorcore subgenre for well over a decade now while, interestingly, dropping few blatantly horrorcore songs. Ever since the beginning, Tech's music has been intensely personal and grounded in religious themes, but, as far as the grotesque go, you'd be hard pressed to find more than a few tracks per album. I guess the face paint and red hair spoke louder than the music. Fortunately, Tech continues to embrace his darker side on new material, letting the mainstream go Tech without compromising his integrity.

Horrifying Lyrics:

Why did I let this stripper burn me on my arm with a cigaretteIn the same spot 10 times in a row when I felt that burnI palm the clitoris, I'mma get her wetSorry to get carried away, I feel stupid cause I ain’t did her yetMaybe she never let a fine nigga stare at her breastsI get vexed so N9ne bit her neckOpen! I try to contain it but that dame thang’s soaking

Before he was making them dance with his bandz, Juicy J was hanging women from trees with his Triple 6 Mafia cohorts. While the group itself would ultimately become a mainstream success story in the mid-2000s when "Stay High" flew up the charts, their earliest material was largely influenced by occultism and demonic spirits. No Mike WiLL Made It instrumentals here.

Horrifying Lyrics:

Stormy weather and church bellsRingin' to the election of a new followerFollow me into the treesWatch me rob AdamAnd watch me rape Eve

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Twiztid - "HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

Detroit has a long-standing history of churning out some of horrorcore's biggest names (Eminem, Esham, and Insane Clown Posse for starters). Something is in the water over in D-town and, whatever that thing is, Twiztid has had their fair share of it. While they're no longer signed to ICP's Psychopathic Records, their sound and image remains reminiscent of anything found over there from their production elements right on down to their clown makeup.

Horrifying Lyrics:

Look in the basement, you can see what I meanPeople are cut to pieces, soaking in gasolineI've always thought knew that I was different from the startBorn with a black heart, addicted to pitch darkI still don't understand why I'm so in love with Killing

Like Eminem before him, Tyler the Creator's horror is based in the form of an alternate persona. In the case of "Yonkers," this deity goes by the name of Wolf Haley, an alter-ego that Tyler referred to as his evil, white side. He also credits Wolf Haley with having directed the song's career-making music video (featured below).

Horrifying Lyrics:

(Fuck everything, man) That's what my conscience saidThen it bunny hopped off my shoulder, now my conscience deadNow the only guidance that I had is splattered on cementActions speak louder than words, let me try this shitDead